PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma) Injection Therapy in Raleigh/Cary NC
What is PRP?
PRP or Platelet-Rich Plasma, is a NON-SURGICAL boost to the body’s own healing ability by taking the patient’s blood and spinning it down in a centrifuge, which is then injected back to the afflicted area – whether that be a joint, tendon or ligament.
What are the benefits?
- There is very little risk to the patient, since we use the patient’s own blood
- Same day procedure with minimal down time
- Near pain free procedure
- Quick blood draw in the office VS surgery in a hospital
- The entire process takes about 15-20 minutes
What are the success rates?
We have performed thousands of injections over the years and 80-90% of our patients are seeing reductions in pain for arthritis, injuries, and chronic pain. In some cases even complete pain relief.
Am I a good candidate for?
Most patients are good candidates for PRP, unless they have bleeding disorders or active cancers. We also do not perform PRP for neurological disorders or for spinal/neck conditions.
What areas can be treated?
PRP injections can be performed in arthritic joints, injured muscles, tendons, and ligaments all over the body. This list DOES NOT include every body part. We have injected almost every part of the body with PRP safely. Some examples of treatment and their studies include:
- PRP for Muscle strains, Hamstring pulls, and tears
- PRP for OCD lesions, Osteochondral lesions
- PRP for Ligament sprains
- PRP for Arthritis Pain
- PRP for Acute tendonitis
- PRP for Chronic tendinopathy (tennis elbow, golfers elbow, patella, Achilles)
- PRP for Post-surgery pain
- PRP for SI joint pain
- PRP for patellofemoral pain, runners knee
- PRP for rotator cuff tears
- PRP for meniscus tears
How does PRP differ from stem cell therapy?
Most studies support that PRP can be just as effective as a stem cell injection for pain relief. Therefore, in most cases we advise trying a PRP injection first.
If you have joint pain, or an injury and traditional methods have not provided relief, then PRP therapy may be the solution.
What is the recovery?
Patients should take 1 week off from exercise after injections, but can resume work the same day (unless they have a very active job). There is no bedrest needed, and patients can drive home from the procedure themselves.
Is all PRP the same? Does concentration matter?
All PRP is defintely not the same. There are many clinics that claim to do PRP injections, but they probably are not concentrating the PRP quite enough.
Your age and your severity does change how much we concentrate your PRP. A younger person might be fine with 2-3X concentration. But as we age we might need upwards of 10x concentration. More severe pain or Chronic issues might also do better with HIGH DOSE PRP.
We have stopped performing lower concentration PRP like most clinics use. Low concentration PRP probably does very little in terms of outcomes.
We offer both High Dose PRP , and Double HIGH Dose PRP
| DOSE | High Dose PRP | Double HIGH DOSE PRP |
| Approximate Concentration | 3-4x | 8-10x |
| Approximate # of Platelets | 3 billion | 9 billion |
| Uses | Younger Patients, Minor injuries, Small areas | Older patients, more chronic problems , more severe pain |
How does this compare to QC Kinetix that I have heard on the radio?
QC Kinetix is a franchise business. We are not affiliated in any way with QC Kinetix.
Recent studies are showing that High Dose PRP may be more effective than steroid injections or Stem Cell injections with much less cost.
Here are some studies : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02632-w
https://josr-online.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13018-020-01753-z
https://www.arthroscopyjournal.org/article/S0749-8063(24)00269-X/fulltext
https://press.rsna.org/timssnet/media/pressreleases/14_pr_target.cfm?id=2386
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35984721/
What can we summarize from studies?
- Stem Cell (fat, bone marrow) treatments seem to give equal relief to steroid
- PRP seems give superior and longer lasting pain relief compared to steroid
- High dose PRP seems to be better than low dose PRP for many patients
- Steroid is not great for joints and tissues longer term, and can degrade tissue
- PRP is also less invasive and less costly than stem cell procedures.
CONCLUSION : For the majority of our patients, High Dose PRP will work just as well, or better than stem cell injections at a lower cost to the patient.
Why choose Dr. Kanaan for your PRP?
See why Dr. Kanaan is the expert in PRP injections and how he can help you receive relief from your orthopedic conditions.
- Duke fellowship-trained nonsurgical orthopedic specialist.
- Dr. Kanaan has performed thousands of PRP injections over the last 10+ years
- Every time you visit our office you will meet with Dr. Kanaan.
- All injection procedures are performed under ultrasound guidance, for improved accuracy.
- Wake Nonsurgical Ortho is the Research Triangle’s first private practice solely dedicated to Nonsurgical orthopedics